


Ursine, Part 1

by Jeminy3



Series: Ursine [1]
Category: The LEGO Movie (2014)
Genre: Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Shapeshifting, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 08:31:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2806124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeminy3/pseuds/Jeminy3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On Tumblr: http://jeminy3.tumblr.com/post/105811228153/ursine-part-1</p><p>A long while ago I started writing a small fic based on the werebear emmet/werelego au. Seen here: http://jeminy3.tumblr.com/tagged/werelego-au</p><p>Essentially, in this AU master builder powers have been replaced with were-creature/shapeshifter powers, much like the Bloody Roar series.</p><p>This is the first part. This is right after Emmet and Wyldstyle land in The Old West after a “hare”-raising adventure. (pfff sorry)</p><p>Features: anxiety, panic attack mentions</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ursine, Part 1

"Alright, up you go."

Wyldstyle lifted Emmet almost effortlessly into the saddle, plopping him down with all the grace of a sack of potatoes. The horse whinnied in protest.

"All we need to do now is find Vitruvius so we can form a plan. Just keep a straight face and _try_ to act like you belong here, okay? I'll fill you in as we go." She mounted her own horse and shot him another quick look of annoyance before whipping the reins to get her horse moving.

Emmet didn't notice it much, as he was too busy fiddling with his horses' control mechanisms, the things completely alien to him having not ridden a horse besides a few pony rides at the fair when he was what, three years old? It didn't help that his nerves were completely fried from everything that'd just happened. His hands were still shaking.

Once he finally got his mount to consent with his requests to start walking, he managed to catch up to the strange woman who'd led him here for who knows what reason. She'd started going on about realms and clans and something that started with a "krah" sound, but Emmet wasn't really listening. He'd closed his eyes, monitoring his breathing.

Inhale, count to six, exhale, count to eight, repeat. Calm down. You're okay. You're alive. You have no idea what's going on or where you are, but you're alive, so that's something. Keep it together, Emmet. The last thing you need is a panic attack right now.

He opened his eyes again when he finally felt his chest loosening and the pounding in his head fading.  He looked over to the dark-haired young woman riding the appropriately dark-colored horse next to him. She was _still_ talking. Wow. He didn't mind watching her do it but he still didn't feel like understanding anything she was saying.

She was pretty, gorgeous even, but the fact that just several minutes ago she'd transformed into a giant mutant rabbit creature and had him clinging for dear life to her back while careening through late night traffic with the majority of Bricksburg's robotic police force in hot pursuit, had put a sour edge on his opinion of her at the moment. It didn't help that she'd been constantly peppering him with questions about "transforming" and "animal form" and "hybrid" the whole time, to which he'd clearly and consistently stated that he had no idea what she was talking about or what she was requesting from him. Apparently it took a life-threatening fall through a strange hole-thing to get her to stop, but now she was mad at him for some reason.

He'd done that with police too, but did they believe him? Nooo. He'd said over and over that he was just a normal, regular, ordinary guy, but apparently touching strange rectangular rune-covered objects and waking up with them permanently stuck to your backside suddenly made everyone think you were some "supershifter" and "destined to save the world" or some such nonsense. That's what Wyldstyle had said, anyway. (Was that _really_ her name?)

None of this was doing any favors for his anxiety. For as long as he could remember, whenever he felt excessively angry or frightened (usually the latter), this horrible feeling came over him... It was hard to describe, but it sort of felt like there were pins and needles in his skin and something was clawing and writhing in his chest, and he'd shake all over and have trouble breathing. He never did find out what it was exactly - he found out later that those weren't symptoms of a normal panic attack - but when he first talked about it with his mom and teachers, that's what they treated it as.

He was recommended things like breathing exercises and soothing drinks to keep it under control, possibly medication if it got any worse. And it did, unfortunately, as he grew older. Now certain sights and smells would start triggering symptoms if he dwelled on them for too long, or even daydreamed about them. They seemed random and nonsensical, but he'd learned to adjust his lifestyle around avoiding them as much as possible. The only underlying thread he could figure out was that they were all related to the wilderness in some way - the feel of tree bark and crunching twigs underfoot, the scent of pine trees and wet soil...

"Hey! Emmet!" Something stopped his horse, violently jerking him out of train of thought. He looked around to see that Wyldstyle had stopped and reached over to grab his horses' reins. She was staring squarely into his face with a very unamused expression. "Are you even _listening_ to me?"

He blinked dumbly at her for a few moments.

"Uh... Yeah! Oh yeah, sure. But uh, just in case... say all that over again I wasn't listening."

" ** _UGH._** "


End file.
